House Floats – Garden District

In the search for fabulous and festive house floats, I’ve already covered Magazine Street, the Irish Channel, Mid-City and the Lower Garden District. New Orleans has been celebrating Mardi Gras in a safe, socially distanced way with City Park’s drive-thru Floats in the Oaks stationary parade and “Yardi Gras,” thousands of homes and businesses throughout the city decorated as parade floats. Krewe of House Floats promoted this safe parade concept, encouraging people to use local businesses and artists to help decorate their places as house floats, or go DIY, then register on their map. The effect is the city basically looks like a drive-thru parade.

House Floats – Lower Garden District

New Orleans has been celebrating Carnival in a safe, socially distanced way with City Park’s drive-thru Floats in the Oaks stationary parade and “Yardi Gras,” thousands of homes and businesses throughout the city decorated as parade floats. Krewe of House Floats, a grassroots organization promoting this safe parade concept, encouraged people to use local businesses and artists to help decorate their places as house floats, or go DIY, then register on their map.

I’ve already covered Magazine Street, the Irish Channel and Mid-City. The next neighborhood we meandered in search of Mardi Gras merriment was the Lower Garden District. I loved the giant tropical fish of the Realm of Poseidon house.

House Floats – Mid-City

If you’ve been following this blog, you know that New Orleans has been celebrating Carnival in a safe, socially distanced way. “Yardi Gras” has decorated thousands of homes and businesses as parade floats. Krewe of House Floats, a grassroots organization promoting this new parade concept, encouraged people to use local businesses and artists to help decorate their places as house floats, or go DIY, then register on their map. After we’d experienced City Park’s drive-thru Floats in the Oaks stationary parade, we drove around neighboring Mid-City with that map and spotted amazing displays.

Some neighborhoods have chosen themes and we drove many streets celebrating with variations on “how sweet it is to be loved bayou.”

Floats in the Oaks

COVID may have cancelled our Mardi Gras parades but New Orleans City Park has created a drive-thru parade – Floats in the Oaks – a safe way to see the floats, keep our spirits up, and relive some memories. City Park has gone to some length to recreate the parade experience – starting with circling spotlights, and a bead thrown through your open window as you show your ticket. There were unattended flambeaux poles burning and ladders strewn with beads lining the road. One area’s trees were covered in toilet paper, reminding us all of the Krewe of Tucks parade.

House Floats – Irish Channel

With the cancellation of Carnival’s parades, we’re celebrating Mardi Gras in place – converting thousands of homes and businesses into parade floats. “Yardi Gras” has covered homes in giant paper mache flowers, cutouts of crowds waving for throws, and huge beads.

Floats in the Oaks & the Pussyfooters!

I got to dance in a parade! Sort of. Because of COVID, the city has had to be clever about how to have a parade experience without creating a super spreader event.  New Orleanians have decorated thousands of homes and businesses throughout the city (and the country and even the world!) as “House Floats” to celebrate “Yardi Gras” – a stationary parade. City Park went literal with the concept – lining it’s winding roads with floats from nearly every Krewe that would normally roll so people can drive through the parade – Floats in the Oaks.

The Pussyfooters, a dance krewe of over 100 women over-30, have been invited to join for both weeks of Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Other dancers and bands will be appearing as well throughout the 2-week schedule. Thursday was opening night and I was pretty excited to finally be putting on my pink wig and corset.

House Floats – Magazine St.

Mardi Gras is essentially cancelled this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But you can’t keep a good city down – and New Orleans is a great city. City Park will be hosting a drive-thru parade called Floats in the Oaks with floats parked on one side of the road and bands and dance krewes on the other. I’ll be dancing in a pink wig and corset along with my Pussyfooters sisters! Parade-goers are encouraged to costume in their cars so I’m hoping it’ll be a little reminder of the fun things we usually see while dancing past the miles and miles of crowds. 

Lately, the entire city is becoming a drive-thru parade.